Survival in the Apocalypse: Max Level Drop Rate with Abundant Resources

Dawn breaks.

Shen Xi toyed with the boundary-breaking talisman in her hand, her mind racing with calculations of the time.

It has been a full month since the apocalyptic survival game was released.

According to my memories from my previous life, the order in which the City Conquest Tournament started depended entirely on the percentage of players in each city who had reached level 10. Starshine City, by virtue of bringing a city-wide level boost of 1, managed to advance the start time by at least half a month. Otherwise, the first city to start the tournament should have been…

Kyoto.

Shen Xi's gaze froze slightly.

Kyoto, the heart of China, was a megacity with over 100 million inhabitants even before the apocalypse. It was a melting pot of diverse individuals, home to countless powerful figures who had risen to prominence from the very beginning of the apocalypse. In the previous life, Kyoto's city conquest competition started earliest and was the most fiercely contested.

Shanghai has the largest number of players and the fiercest competition. The average player level there is significantly higher than in Xinghui City, but the top players are on par with those in Kyoto.

Chengdu, a city known for its fierce and warlike people, is a dominant region. From day one, its players have banded together, forming several stable and large factions. When the championship begins, it's essentially a battle between those factions.

Nanjing, the ancient capital of China, holds countless secrets buried beneath its surface. It boasts the largest number of hidden dungeons in the country, and while the overall strength of its players is considerable, it lacks top-tier combat power, creating a situation where "everyone has food to eat, but no one can eat their fill."

And there's Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chang'an...

Shen Xi's gaze swept over those names one by one, her mind churning with memories of her previous life.

Every city has its own strong players, its own opportunities, and its own crises.

But he couldn't think for too long.

The battle for supremacy in Starshine City has ended, but battles in other cities could begin at any time. He must arrive in the next city before it opens, or he will miss it again.

"There's no time to go to the store," Shen Xi muttered to herself, putting the Boundary-Breaking Talisman into her storage space.

Mingying stood to the side.

Shen Xi raised her head and looked northwest.

The northwest corner of Starshine City was the route he had taken when he first entered the city. Passing through the outer villages and then traversing a stretch of uninhabited land, he would reach the city's border. There, an invisible barrier completely isolated Starshine City from the outside world.

The boundary-breaking talisman is the key.

"Let's go." Shen Xi stepped forward. "Let's get out of the city first, and we can talk about other things when we get there."

Without saying a word, Mingying followed.

The two of them sped off in the morning light, one after the other, heading northwest.

Leaving the ruins and passing through a partially collapsed residential area, the scene ahead gradually became familiar.

That was the route Shen Xi took when he first entered Starshine City. Only back then he went from outside the city towards the city, now he's going in the opposite direction.

The village was still there, but it was more dilapidated than when he arrived.

Most of the already crooked houses had collapsed, leaving only a few broken walls standing forlornly. On the road at the village entrance, several rotting corpses lay scattered about, their bodies so decayed they were unrecognizable and emitted a strong stench.

"What a huge change in just one month!"

Shen Xi kept walking, and his All-Seeing Insight automatically activated, scanning his surroundings.

Several rotting corpses peeked out from behind abandoned vehicles by the roadside, their murky eyes locking onto him and Mingying.

Level 3, Level 4, Level 5.

They're all minor characters.

Shen Xi was too lazy to even pull out the Pangu Axe.

"Mingying".

The moment the words were spoken, Mingying moved.

His speed was astonishing; while 47 points in agility wasn't particularly fast, it still left a trail of afterimages in the morning light. His twin bone blades drew two pale arcs in the air, and where the blades passed, three heads flew off simultaneously!

Black blood spurted out!

Mingying sheathed her sword, not even glancing at the corpses.

Shen Xi continued forward, and Ming Ying followed silently.

The rest of the journey was almost entirely a one-sided massacre.

The rotting corpses wandering the villages and roads couldn't even last a second against Shen Xi and Ming Ying. Ming Ying's twin blades were like the Grim Reaper's scythe, each strike precisely severing the corpses' necks. Occasionally, when they encountered a few elites, Shen Xi would finish them off with an axe blow, using the "All Things Return to Storage" technique to collect the fallen items into his storage space.

Gold coins +35, Gold coins +42, Gold coins +28, Gold coins +57...

The system notification sounded every few tens of seconds, but Shen Xi didn't even bother to look at it.

His current gold coin balance is 49373, far from 300,000. These odds are better than nothing.

Three hours later, the scene ahead suddenly changed.

The highway ended, replaced by a gray-white wasteland. Nothing grew there, only pebbles and sand, swirling fine dust in the wind. In the distance, a pale blue curtain of light stretched between heaven and earth, like an invisible wall, dividing the world in two.

The light screen was covered with dense runes, which slowly rotated and intertwined, exuding a chilling sense of oppression.

The border of Starshine City.

Shen Xi stopped and looked up at the sky-covering curtain of light.

Mingying followed behind him the whole time.

Shen Xi stepped forward and walked to the light screen.

When they were ten meters away, the notification sound of the post-apocalyptic survival game rang out precisely on time...

[System Notification: Player "Primordial" has been detected attempting to leave the Starshine City area!]

[The city is now completely sealed off. Please wait until the city is unsealed before traveling to other cities!]

[WARNING: Forcibly breaking the seal will be considered a violation, and you will be responsible for the consequences!]

Shen Xi looked at the line of scarlet warning.

"Force a breakthrough? He's not that stupid."

Raising his hand, the Boundary-Breaking Talisman fell from his storage space into his palm.

The palm-sized token was entirely black, with dark gold runes on its surface glowing faintly. A glimmer of light seeped from a tiny crack along the token's edge.

Shen Xi took a deep breath, her thoughts stirring slightly...

"use."

The boundary-breaking talisman exploded instantly!

Dark golden light burst forth from the token, like a sharp sword, piercing straight towards the light screen in front of it!

The light curtain trembled violently under the impact of the dark golden light, and the flowing runes began to spin wildly, as if they had encountered some kind of nemesis, peeling off, shattering and dissipating layer by layer!

A few seconds later, a crack appeared on the light screen.

The crack was very small, only wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways. At the edge of the crack, dark golden light and pale blue runes were fiercely clashing, emitting a "sizzling" sound.

[Boundary-Breaking Talisman in effect...]

The city's seal has been temporarily broken!

[Tear Duration: 60 seconds]

[Countdown: 59, 58, 57...]

Shen Xi turned around and took one last look in the direction of Starshine City.

In the morning light, the outline of the city was faintly visible at the edge of the ruins. The flags on the city walls were still fluttering, the patrolling soldiers were still walking, and those he knew or did not know were still struggling for survival.

This departure may be long, and I don't know when I'll be able to return.

He thought of that woman.

Shen Xi remained silent for a moment, then turned around and stepped into the crack.

"I'm gone."

Mingying followed.

The two of them walked one after the other through the crack that was healing.

Behind them, the morning light of Starshine City gradually faded into the distance.

The city lord's mansion, the small building in the backyard.

Liu Xinghui stood by the window, holding a cup of tea that had gone cold.

She stared in the northwest direction, her brows slightly furrowed.

Since just now, she had felt inexplicably uneasy. It was a feeling she couldn't quite put her finger on, as if something was drifting away, disappearing, and being pulled from her life.

"Lord of the City?" Tiger asked cautiously from behind, "Are you alright?"

Liu Xinghui did not answer.

She just kept staring in that direction.

In the morning light, she vaguely saw a dark golden light flash across the sky and disappear in an instant.

It was so short that she thought it was an illusion.

But her heart clenched painfully the moment the light disappeared.

"In the beginning..." she murmured, her voice so soft that she could barely hear herself.

Tiger Lord didn't hear clearly and stepped forward: "City Lord, what did you say?"

Liu Xinghui snapped out of his daze and shook his head: "It's nothing."

She turned around, placed the now-cold tea on the table, and asked in her usual calm voice, "Has the training for the city defense troops been arranged?"

"It's all arranged, all arranged!" Tiger nodded repeatedly. "The supplies left behind by the Primordial God are enough to feed the brothers for a while. Everyone's determined not to let the Primordial God down!"

Liu Xinghui nodded and said nothing more.

She looked out the window again, towards the northwest.

The morning light remains, the wasteland remains.

But that person's presence was gone.

The light curtain slowly closed behind me.

Shen Xi stood on the other side of the wasteland and looked back.

The pale blue barrier had returned to its original state, the runes flowing, the light still shining. It was as if the crack had never existed.

He looked away and opened the chat panel of the post-apocalyptic survival game.

[Regional Channel: Kyoto]

"I managed to get here!"

Shen Xi turned off the panel and looked up ahead.

At the edge of the wasteland, the outline of a huge city can be vaguely seen.

Skyscrapers stand tall, a steel forest, reflecting a cold metallic luster in the morning light.

Kyoto.

The political center of China, a megacity with a population of over 100 million.

In his previous life, this city became the most impregnable fortress in the entire Huaxia Kingdom after the apocalypse. Military forces, civilian factions, and major guilds carved out their own territories, engaging in open and covert struggles. And standing atop everyone's heads was the man who topped the Huaxia region's level rankings at level 16…

Lord Wu'an.

There are also the major aristocratic families.

The Gu family, which he had uprooted in Xinghui City, had its headquarters in this city. Although Gu Zhengxiong was dead, the Gu family's foundation remained. Those intricate networks of relationships, those hidden forces, would not completely disappear because of one person's death.

Shen Xi's lips curled into a cold smile.

"Gu family, I'm here again."

He gripped the Pangu Axe tightly and strode forward.

Behind him, Mingying followed silently.

The morning light cast long shadows of the two people onto the gray-white wasteland.

Kyoto, here I am again.

I'm sorry, Lord Wu'an, but I'll accept the first place in the capital!

This time, I won't miss the City Showdown.

And it's time to settle the debts some people owe me.